The Distance Precision Matrix: computing networks from nonlinear relationships

Abstract: A fundamental method of reconstructing networks, e.g. in the context of gene regulation, relies on the precision matrix (the inverse of the variance-covariance matrix) as an indicator which variables are associated with each other. The precision matrix assumes Gaussian data and its entries are zero for those pairs of variable which are conditionally independent. Here, we propose the Distance Precision Matrix which is based on a measure of possibly non-linear association, the distance covarince. We provide evidence that the Distance Precision Matrix can successfully compute networks from non-linear data and does so in a very consistent manner across many data situations.